Regarding our "crushing debt"

[hay rick]

7. Crowding out.

I think there is little real imminent danger of government borrowing "crowding out" private borrowing for investment. The current reality is that businesses are sitting on record levels of cash ($2.5T) rather than investing in expanded productive capacity. The economic problem we face is under-utilization of capacity and lack of demand. Government can increase borrowing without driving up rates because so much capital is otherwise sitting idle.

Hopefully, at some point, demand will catch up with capacity and we will see some growth. If and when that happens, crowding out of private investment could become an issue. Two points- 1) we're not there yet- and maybe not even close; and 2) when we do get growth, increased tax revenue will at least partially offset the need for borrowing.